The Nashville Predators have been working for some time on an extension to Mattias Ekholm, and we have finally reached an agreement. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that the two parties have signed a four-year extension worth a total of $ 25 million. The average annual value of $ 6.25M will be a substantial increase over Ekholm’s current deal, which is capped at $ 3.75M and will expire at the end of this season.
Ekholm, 31, has been a key part of the Predators’ defense for years, debuted in the 2011-12 season and became a regular in 2013. One of the most consistent two-way presences in the league, he has recorded the minus 23 points in each of the past six seasons, with a career-high 44 in 2018-19. With Ryan ellis Now in Philadelphia, he will likely be asked to take on even more special teams responsibility and is easily the team’s most trusted choice behind the captain. Roman Josi.
Still, signing Ekholm at this point is a curious move for the Predators, who don’t appear to be in any real winning mode right now. Great contracts for Matt duchene other Ryan johansen they haven’t worked, leaving your offensive group a work in progress up to this point. Viktor Arvidsson, a large part of that attack was sent this summer, while Filip Forsberg You are in the last year of your current contract. If anything, it seemed more likely that general manager David Poile would enter this season ready to pull the trigger on some deadline deals that could restock the closet and prepare the Predators for future success.
An extension for Ekholm certainly takes him out of the deadline equation and locks him into things with the Predators until 2025-26. There is a real risk that this contract will not look very favorable to the team a few years from now, although Ekholm has certainly provided a great deal of capital gain thus far. The contract ending this year is one of the league’s best bargains, perhaps giving the team one last chance to compete with this group before more substantial changes are made.